"What do you mean Walter hired you but doesn't want anything to do with me?" Toby demanded of Happy.

"Just what I said. He's taken what you and Sylvester did very seriously. You can't even go over to the Garage or I'll be fired over it." Happy told him and Sylvester.

"What am I supposed to do for a living?" Sylvester asked worriedly. "We've still got a bit to come in from those jobs we have with Centipede but still."

Happy shrugged.

"I'll still finish my part of the jobs from CP but that is it. And you better start figuring out what you are going to do for a living too Fungus." Happy told him. "I doubt that Walter is going to raise my pay and we can't afford your lifestyle without a second income."

"This is messed up. I need to go talk to Walter." Toby complained.

"No, you need to stay the hell away from them." Happy told him. "You and Sylvester made your bed with him. And especially you and Paige. I still can't believe what you did to her." Happy glared at Toby. "From all the glee you both exhibited winning contracts to picking that name for the company. We never should have quit, never should have abandoned Walter."

"So you and Sylvester are going over to finish up the jobs starting Monday?" Toby asked as he thought.

"We have to, we can't afford to be sued for not completing them." Happy sighed as she sat down.

"How long do you think it will take? We only have the space for another week before the management company takes it back." Toby reminded her.

"I think I can get mine done in that time. Sly can work on his from home if he has too." Happy told them. "I guess I could as well if I had too. Would have to rearrange some of the stuff in the garage to make room. Unless Walter lets me use the Garage." Happy thought out loud.

Ralph and Cabe arrived Wednesday morning with clothes for Paige in case she did get released as the doctors expected. She didn't really want to leave Walter but she figured she could spend a little time packing some clothes to take to the Garage for her and Ralph. Now that he had his full memory back and just because Tim was no longer a threat didn't change Walter's desire for them to move in.

Her hairdresser came in around noon and took care of her hair. Walter smiled as he looked at her as she stood up. The only real option she had was a bob style.

"What do you think Walter?" Paige asked as she turned to face him.

Walter's eyes opened wide. Paige's hair had always been past her shoulders with lovely waves, but this was arousing. The side that had been singed the most was cut the shortest and left flat and straight. The left however, a good bit longer, with an intriguing volume and texture to the layers. Coupled with the way her eyes focused on him, Paige had always been the most sultry looking woman he'd ever seen, this just raised the bar of arousal beyond his mind's ability to calculate.

"I-I, I." Walter paused as he swallowed hard. "I think I really like it, Paige."

Paige smiled.

"I think you more than like it." Paige teased.

Walter nodded vigorously.

"You look so damn arousing." Walter muttered with a hoarse, almost animalistic sound.

Everyone but Paige looked at him rather shocked. Paige grinned as she stepped up to the bed and sat on the side.

"Is that so? What do you plan to do about it?" Paige teased as her fingers caressed his face.

Walter's brain was only registering Paige at the moment and she heard him growl.

"Easy lover." Paige whispered to him while placing her hand against his chest. "We're not alone. And we still need to work on some things." Paige told him just as quietly as she bent over and kissed him.

Walter nodded slowly as his eyes darted about and saw Cabe and Ralph sitting on the other side of the beds watching.

"I'll miss running my hands through the length, but it really looks sexy." Walter told her as he tried to calm down.

Paige smiled.

"I was hating the idea of having to have it this short. But after that response, I'm going to have to reconsider." Paige teased. "But also, since we're coming up on summer, it might be a lot cooler. Are you ready for your trim?" Paige grinned trying to tease and calm him.

Walter shook his head for a moment and Paige frowned. Walter's eyes looked down the length of his body and Paige smiled as she realized what had happened. She quietly talked with him for a few minutes asking about getting rid of his appliances in the Loft and replacing them with hers. Walter nodded in agreement as they talked and before long they were able to get him out of the bed and transferred to a chair so her hairdresser could trim his hair too.

"Boy, right close to a buzz cut." Walter grinned as he ran his hand through his short hair when she finished.

"Not quite, but close on the sides." Paige whispered in a sultry voice next to his ear. Her hands slid over his shoulders and kissed him deeply as they hugged.

"Umm, you already got him worked up once." Cabe teased.

Paige smiled as she turned and wrote a check for her friend.

"Thank you so much for doing this." Paige told her as she included a big tip.

About two in the afternoon they came in with Paige's discharge paperwork. They'd stayed at the hospital so they could have dinner with Walter.

They kissed several times tenderly, neither of them wanted to be separated. Walter smiled at Paige as she pulled back. The fire was still in his eyes as he took in her new look.

"Here, I know our personal accounts don't have a lot and if there is anything you might need I've got an emergency fund you can get the money out to use." Walter told her as he handed her a folded piece of paper. "This will tell you how to access it."

Paige frowned but nodded.

"I think I'm okay but thank you." Paige smiled and then whispered. "I can't wait until we can put all of this behind us and do what we've both been thinking about all afternoon." Paige grinned at the grin that came up on Walter's face. She gave him another kiss before Ralph and Cabe wheeled her out.

Walter sighed as he tried to get comfortable again.

Thursday 10 AM:

"Knock knock." Toby said as he carefully stepped into Walter's room.

Walter glared at him.

"What are you doing here?" Walter demanded.

"I wanted to talk to you." Toby shrugged.

"Tough." Walter said. "Get out before I call for the nurse." Walter told him.

"Please?" Toby said in a pathetic voice Walter remembered well. He remembered it from the night he met Toby. When Toby was about to be killed when the gun was put to his head.

Walter rolled his eyes.

"Really? Going completely lowlife to get me to talk to you?" Walter said while shaking his head. "What could be so important to you?"

"If it means I can stay and talk with you for a few. It'll be worth it." Toby nodded.

Walter rolled his eyes again.

"Walt, I get it, I really messed up with you and Paige. Not to mention Happy. But I know you remember that night after we saw the quack. You came to my apartment. You wanted to apologize, to accept what was wrong between us as your fault." Toby reminded him.

Walter just nodded.

"Walt, man, I was serious then and I'm serious now. You were innocent, I was wrong and so out of control then and even more now. I have been doing everything I could to sabotage everything I had. It was like a bullet train I couldn't stop. Once I was onboard it, nothing was enough. Nothing. Normally once I've sabotaged enough I'd correct my behavior, but it wasn't happening. I wasn't happy at all. But I couldn't stop, I was a runaway nuclear reactor. It is very much like Happy said to me and Sly, I hadn't stopped gambling, I had just switched it to gambling with our lives. I pushed the others more and more, creating CP, the name. I kept Sylvester amped up over Flo. And because I didn't have you around to poke and prod on a normal basis I turned against Paige. She was the closest thing to you I had and I was truly vile and disgusting to her." Toby told him after sitting down.

"And I very much want it to stop. Not just because it would mean so much to Happy but because you have been my friend. Paige has been my friend, she even arranged for me and Happy to get married. After all I had done back then, who does that? A friend that's who. Even when I've been a jerk and done stuff that no one in their right mind would do. I need a chance to properly make up for what I've done to you and Paige." Toby told him.

Walter lay there just watching the second hand of the old analog clock on the wall slowly click around the face of the clock.

"Well, that's pretty much all I have to say right now. Just, please think about this and discuss it with Paige." Toby added after a few minutes.

Walter still just laid there.

Toby nodded as he sighed.

"I'm glad that you and Paige are going to be okay after that bomb." Toby said as he stood up. He smiled and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm glad you are going to be okay too." Walter said finally.

Paige stared at the folded piece of paper Walter gave her. She was burning with curiosity since he'd given it to her the day before. But she resisted the temptation until after Cabe left with Ralph that morning. Slowly she opened it and frowned as she saw a rough sketch of the kitchen in the Loft with an x marked on one cabinet. She walked over and looked at the cabinet since there were no other explanations. She frowned, not seeing anything so she opened the door and looked inside.

Nothing obvious. She moved the items from the corner where the x had been drawn but nothing. She pulled a chair over and climbed up and looked on top but found nothing there either.

Paige huffed. This wasn't like Walter. She stepped down and pushed the chair back under the table. She looked back and bent to the side and looked at the bottom of the cabinet and saw a dark spot. Could have been a knothole in the wood but it was where the x was marked.

Paige stepped up and reached back under the cabinet and felt the wood and noticed it was recessed a bit. Her fingers pushed up and she felt a slight give. She pushed a bit harder and she heard a click. The cabinet moved free from the wall just a bit. After moving the cabinet, as it was on some kind of retracting arms, she saw a patch in the plaster. She picked at it and the patch pulled free on one side.

Seeing several green leds lit up inside Paige's curiosity was going through the roof now. She grabbed a flashlight from the tool drawer and stepped back up to the hole that was revealed. Holding the paper back, she shined the light inside and saw there were six pieces of computer equipment along with a satchel. She pulled the satchel out and opened it.

Paige gasped at the amount of money she saw in the bag. Ten bundles of one hundred dollar bills meant Walter had hidden one hundred thousand dollars in that hole. She swallowed hard as she put several of the bundles back into the satchel after counting them. She licked her lips and slipped the satchel back into the hole. She looked at the paper that had been covering it and smiled. She got the glue stick out of her craft bag she'd brought with her last night. She quickly swiped the glue around the edges and then carefully stretched the paper back out sealing the hole. She moved the cabinet back over and she pressed it against the wall until she heard a soft click, locking it back in place.

Paige had arrived with Cabe, Ralph and Allie. They'd brought in Thai food from Paige's favorite Thai restaurant. After they had spent about an hour and a half with Walter, Paige wanted to give Ralph some time with Walter, but finally she looked at Cabe.

"Oh, to let you guys know what is going on at Homeland." Cabe told them before she could say anything. "Tim finally confessed that his being back was Carlson's idea all along. That Carlson wanted to bust up both Scorpion and CP out of revenge over the ballgame."

"I can't imagine that his word will hold much weight against Carlson's." Walter frowned.

"It does when he had the sense about him to record conversations over everything. Katherine said she was reinstating Scorpion's contract and Carlson is being forced to step down." Cabe smiled.

"Fitting." Paige smiled as she continued to look at Cabe. "I'm going to spend the night here. I didn't care for being at the Loft without Walter. Do you mind keeping Ralph for me?" Paige asked sweetly.

Cabe and Allie both shook their heads as they chuckled as Ralph sighed.

"I suppose that means you are ready for us to leave then?" Ralph looked at his Mom.

"That is very perceptive of you my little heart." Paige said as she reached across the table and caressed his cheek.

After Cabe left with Allie and Ralph, Paige helped Walter to the bathroom and helped him clean up. After getting him back into bed she went back in. She slipped out of her dress, then she cleaned up and got into her pajamas. She smiled at Walter as she walked out and over to his bed. She wasn't sure she wanted to do anything more than cuddle and sleep but knew they both had strong desires.

"Toby came over and forced a conversation while everyone was gone." Walter said softly after they'd cuddled up together.

Paige rolled her eyes as she sighed.

"Well that certainly helps kill the mood. I can just imagine what he said." Paige sighed as she looked back over her shoulder at him.

Walter nodded.

"He brought up what he told me after you sent us to see Dr Rizzuto." Walter told her.

Paige glared at the wall that was between the two rooms.

"Using the same tired excuse of self-sabotage?" Paige said with exasperation.

"Yeah, pretty much how I felt." Walter nodded as he kissed the side of her neck. Walter inhaled deeply as Paige had reapplied her lavender before coming to bed. "But he did sound sincere, for what it is worth. Claiming it wasn't just to make Happy feel better." Walter paused to pull his phone out of his table drawer and pulled up the file manager. He scrolled down and clicked on the audio file he recorded earlier. Paige lay there staring at the phone as she heard the conversation between Toby and Walter.

"So you didn't make him any promises?" Paige asked in surprise. She was so used to Walter giving in and forgiving them so easily. She really figured he'd forgive them faster than her.

Walter shook his head.

"No, I was serious when I told you I wasn't sure I wanted them back in my life, even before I knew what he did to you. I would never invite him back without discussing it with you and you being one hundred percent onboard with it. Personally he could rot as far as I'm concerned." Walter told her. His eyes closed as she leaned back against him more.

"So you are saying it is up to me if we offer him and Sly a place back in Scorpion?" Paige asked softly.

"Well Sly I could probably get him a job somewhere else. I don't know where Toby could work. He irritates people too much. I'm comfortable leaving the decision up to you, but there is one condition." Walter told her as he kissed her neck again.

"Mmm…what is the condition?" Paige asked as she grinned at the kiss.

"He comes back at half pay. For every month he is there without causing problems his pay goes up ten percent to the maximum. If he causes problems even one time it goes down twenty percent. If it ever gets back to half or less again he's permanently fired." Walter said as his lips nibbled Paige's ear.

"Oh, I like that." Paige smiled. "Your lips that is." Paige amended to Walter's laugh. "Fine, but he has to apologize to me first."

Walter smiled as his right hand drifted around her side to cup her right breast.

"Speaking of pay." Paige moaned. "Where did all that money come from?"

Walter smiled as his fingers pulled gently against her nipple.

"Because we were doing so much better with you helping us, I began putting back money from each case we did after Megan passed away. Just in case we needed it, since I didn't need to pay for her care." Walter said before his lips locked onto her neck and he sucked gently against her flesh.

"Mmmm…" Paige moaned. Her eyes opened as she felt his excitement. "I'm not sure I'm ready yet to go back to making love with you Walter."

"I know, but I figured a nice manual release could be exactly what we both need tonight." Walter whispered.

Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Well will wonders never cease! FFN has finally broken their 1 year + silence and spoken on Twitter. They said all the problems have been from hardware and software failures and their staff has been hurt by Covid. I can't understand the hardware issue since the servers belong to another company, shouldn't they be maintaining them? Software, sure, if mods/devs aren't able to maintain things that can certain cause issues. But they supposedly got things switched up last night to new servers, I guess still in Cloudflare. So many have been panicking in the fanfiction circles as people cried out the end was near for FFN. All of this could have been avoided with just some simple communication from FFN devs and the community.

But anyway this chapter brings this part of the story to a close. If the story speaks again I'll certainly write it but I'll share it as its own story rather than put it in here. I guess the grab bag idea wasn't as good as I had thought. lol So this will probably be forgotten in the future. Finally getting more written on Unconsciously Conscious so I might go ahead and post it next.

Lucy - Well do you know the old expression...the left hand didn't know what the right was doing? hehe Slightly bigger picture with Carlson being the "mastermind" behind Tim's part and with recorded conversations!

Railman - Nope, when they weren't actually in the explosion Flo took off as quickly as she could.

JerBr23 - hehe Glad you enjoyed the call! Yeah, there is certainly some things that could be further told...did Paige decide to invite Sly and Toby back? My thought is she probably will...she's pretty happy in general and she's kind of amicable when she is happy.

Susan - Right? I mean I felt bad for Toby but I also thought...eh, you deserve some pain! LOL *bad Tim*

Guest/Margaret - I hope you are getting it figured out enough to enjoy at least. I haven't shared a story called "Grudges" before nor a story quite like this one. Hope someone else didn't write something similar if it really seems familiar to you...that would be embarrassing.

To the Adventure! -Tim